


Follower

by Nidodin



Series: Dog Days [1]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Im baby, So I gave him one, babys first fic, i wanted juno to have a dog, oh boy, the whole crime crews here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22342225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nidodin/pseuds/Nidodin
Summary: Juno reluctantly gets a friend
Series: Dog Days [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608256
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Follower

Juno stood, alert and watchful while jet scoured through the next room for documents owned by their target for the next heist, Mx. Sargsyan. The crew of the Carte Blanche believed they were funding a weapon trade in the Astreaus territory on Neptune. By this point, it was pure luck (or maybe a testament to Jet’s skill) that the alarms hadn’t been tripped by this point. Nothing had gone wrong, and no one had seen them; it seemed like they’d be able to get in and out as simple as that. They had a short window to get what they needed, and Juno was only there as backup if something went wrong. They’d decided that Juno would watch doorways as Jet searched, much to Juno’s chagrin.  
As Juno waited, there came a shuffling noise from the room on his left. He froze, turning towards it and training his blaster on the cracked door. As far as they were aware, no one was supposed to be on this floor for another twenty minutes, but he couldn’t ignore it. When nothing came through, he crept over and nudged it open far enough for his blaster and himself to peek through. Inside was dark and set to be what looked like a storage area. There were large crates in the corner covered by tarps, and a few rows of cupboards off to the right. It smelled musty with the faint scent of something he didn’t recognize. But there were no people, nor any place for a person to hide. Juno pushed the door wider, and stood, waiting for any movement.  
What he got was something pulling at the bottom of his jacket. He yelped and jumped back, barely keeping himself from falling to the ground. Juno looked down, and was met with two sets of beaming eyes from a small silhouette. The jaw clamped around the edge of his coat was that of a small dog, though Juno couldn’t tell what kind.  
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” He didn’t move. It had yet to attack but he couldn’t take any chances, especially when he wasn’t sure his trigger would be faster. He took a few seconds to examine the creature, and realized why it had yet to do anything. Juno was looking down at a puppy - probably not even a year old, based on its size and Juno’s limited knowledge of dogs. He leaned forward cautiously and held out his hand for the dog to sniff. In response, it shoved itself forward, releasing Juno’s coat, and happily began to inspect anything it could reach, its tails waving wildly. He tensed, but let it explore, relieved that nothing would impede his and Jet’s mission.  
Juno’s normal routine would be to stun the thing as fast as he could, but he couldn’t bring himself to that when it was so young, and didn’t seem like it was doing any harm. He figured it was still being trained, but it didn’t look like it was successful - especially not as it sat, trying to gnaw at the toe of his shoe. As much as it wasn’t putting them in any danger, he still didn’t want it attracting attention, so he rose and looked around again for a place to hold it. Now that he was looking for it, Juno realized the crates were for animals, probably the assorted guard dogs security must have with them. He leant down and swept the small creature into his arms, it’s pedipalps scrabbling in its new surroundings. He found one of the smaller crates, and gently pushed the dog inside, closing and latching the door before it could escape. Immediately, it jumped against the door, looking at him dejectedly, which he pointedly ignored. He didn’t want, nor did he need a dog on a ship of six, especially when sometimes he couldn’t even take care of himself. If he took it, and set it free somewhere, it’d probably just die without someone taking care of it, and at least here it had that. He turned away, and the dog started to bark.  
“No.” It barked again.  
“Goddamnit. Just… stop.” It stared at him and he scowled. He reached out and pulled the tarp from the top and brought it down, covering the whole crate.  
“Just go to sleep or something, we’ll leave and you can do whatever it is they do with dogs. Don’t bark, we’re trying to not attract attention.” Juno knew there was no reason to talk to it, but it was something to do. The big guy still wasn’t a big talker, and he wasn’t here to listen anyways. As he walked to the door, he could hear it whining, but luckily it didn’t bark. As he reached the main hall, he watched as Jet walked out of the office, carrying a large bag, which he set down when he reached Juno.  
“I have found the documents, we may leave now.”  
“Oh. Good. There’s a, uh, dog? In this room. So we should leave in case it barks and brings guards.”  
“Did you not stun it so it did not attack us?”  
“No, I’m pretty sure it’s a puppy and I don’t want Rita on my case again about helpless dogs.”  
“Very well. Let us go.”  
They made it to the exit easily, stopping once for a passing patrol pair. The Ruby 7 wasn’t far, so their walk was easy, and both relaxed upon reaching it. Jet went to the trunk to store his duffle bag while Juno instantly slumped into the passenger side.

On the Carte Blanche, Juno was ready to go back to his room and collapse into his bed, but he’d have to wait until the ‘family meeting’ was over. They reached the kitchen where the rest of the crew sat waiting at the table. They took their seats and Buddy began began.  
“I presume it was successful?”  
“Yes, Buddy, I found the documents with no issue. Juno stood guard.”  
“Good. Juno? No issues?”  
Instead of answering, Juno’s attention was immediately drawn to the bag Jet had set down near the end of the table.  
“Something wrong with the bag, Steel?” Vespa narrowed her eyes, looking like she was getting ready to reprimand him again.  
“What? No. Well… It’s moving?”  
“Bags don’t move, Mistah Steel!”  
“Well gee, Rita, thanks, but that one’s moving.” He held up his hand and the crew went quiet. In the silence, there was a muted scuffling and the bag shifted slightly. Jet got up and carefully opened the bag, revealing four familiar eyes. Instantly, the kitchen exploded with noise.  
“What.”  
“...What?”  
“A PUPPY!”  
“What the hell.”  
“Oh!”  
“Oh.”  
The puppy flinched in the cacophony, but recovered quickly, scanning the new environment, not even prepared to try and escape the bag yet. Almost like it knew what it was doing, the dog fumbled out of the bag and walked directly to Juno.  
“You’ve gotta be kidding.” Juno made no move, just sat, staring down at the creature that had now placed its front paws on his knee.  
“AWW! Mistah Steel, it really likes you!”  
“Juno, darling, would you mind explaining why there’s a dog on my ship now?”  
Juno blinked and looked up to meet Buddy’s raised eyebrow. His gaze darted to Rita, who was grinning and had stars in her eyes looking at the dog.  
“It was in Sargsyan's facility! There was a room that they must’ve kept guard dogs, and I heard something, so I went to check it and found this.” He waved his hand at the dog, still set on his leg. “I put it in a crate when we left so it wouldn’t attract attention or do anything! The latch must not have been down all the way. We can just drop it off on the next planet and hopefully someone will find it, it seems smart enough to survive on it’s own.”  
“Mistah Steel! We can’t just leave it! It got in the bag and followed you! We have to help it!” Rita whipped her head over to Buddy. “ OH! We can train it! And it can help on heists! Miss Buddy, please? OHH It’ll be just like -”  
“Rita, no.” Juno knew it was a losing battle when it came to Rita and cute things, but he could still try. Instead of listening to him, she predictably kept herself pointed towards Buddy, waiting for an answer. He hoped Buddy would be firm enough to shut the scheme down. Buddy sat, looking between Vespa and Rita, for once looking like she didn’t know how to handle the situation. Vespa was leaving this one to Buddy. After a moment of silence, she seemed to have settled her mind and looked fully at Rita.  
“We aren’t busy as of right now, so I believe we can keep it if you would like-” Rita interrupted her with an incomprehensible yell, and Juno had let out a groan as soon as Buddy had said “can” and his head hit the table. “But, Rita dear, it will need to be taken care of. We will add some duties to the chore list but it falls on one person to train it. Juno, this will be your job.”  
“What. Why me? I don’t even want the damn thing.” His head shot up to glare at Buddy.  
“You brought it on my ship. Besides, maybe it can be trained as a guard dog or something.”  
“You - wh - dammit fine.” Juno looked down at his apparent new charge and sighed, knowing that arguing would be worse. He didn’t want to take care of it, he could barely take care of himself! But then he watched Rita come around and sit on the floor next to the puppy, who happily climbed into her lap and began licking her face, and couldn’t bring himself to be exceptionally upset about it. 

When Juno finally arrived at his room, it was with an armful of towels and improvised supplies. Rita followed close behind, the dog still buoyed in her arms. She’d babbled to it the whole time, but Juno only started listening when he closed the door behind her.  
“We can get you a floral collar- oh! No! A plaid collar! Wait, no! A spiked collar! That’ll look so cool!”  
“Rita, are you just going to sit with it, then? ‘Cause if so, I’m gonna lay down.”  
“Sure, Mistah Steel, you go ahead! I’ll watch this absolute baby!”  
“...Right, ok.” Juno bundled the towel up and set it on the floor with the other things. He handed the container he brought to Rita, who dutifully went to the bathroom to fill it with water, and then slumped into his bed. While she was gone, the dog took to sniffing around Junos room. It took special interest in a hoodie sleeve hanging off the end of his bed, but did nothing with it once the whole thing hit the floor. Juno sighed and did not move.  
By the time Rita had come back and set the dish on the ground, the dog had picked up a shoe from the closet and carried it to the middle of the room. She entered and swooped the dog into her arms again, booping it on the nose and putting the shoe away. It didn’t seem to be particularly upset by the loss of it’s new toy, instead seeming to notice there was another person to consider because of its new vantage point. Rita sat on the end of the bed, allowing it to squirm out of her hold and over to Juno, who did not move. He was satisfied that the dog wouldn’t create too much mischief with Rita around, and was nodding off. 

Rita watched as the puppy toddled up Junos side and settled down at his shoulder, nuzzling it’s head into his neck, and rapidly fall asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic and i just really wanted to give juno a dog. expect other shenanigans later on, or come yell about it with me on tumblr @nidopul


End file.
